"examiners in lunacy," or he may institute further inquiry into the case, or an appeal may be taken and the case tried by jury. The " examiners in lunacy" are physicians of three years' experience who are registered with and certified to by the Commission in Lunacy.[1] Minnesota also provided for "examiners in lunacy," but that part of the statute has been declared unconstitutional. In Florida the court orders commitment upon the basis of the evidence taken by a committee of three, one of whom must be a physician, appointed by him to make an examination of the lunatic.[2] In Alabama the case is heard by the court with or without a jury, the testimony of at least one physician being taken.[3] In Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, and Oklahoma trial is by a jury, one of whom must be a physician.[4] In Indiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia the case is tried before the justice, or justices, of the peace instead of the court, the testimony of at least one physician being required.[5] In Indiana the inquest is before two, in North Carolina before two or more justices.
In the third group, where the insane are admitted to the hospital upon the certificate of physicians, the court recording the finding in the case without having power to revise the decision, are Delaware, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and the District of Columbia. Patients are admitted to the hospital in Delaware upon the certificate of two physicans with five years' experience, whose ability and integrity are certified to by someone capable of administering oaths.[6] A like provision is found in Vermont, New Hampshire, and the District of Columbia.[7] In New Hampshire, however, the court has held that a certificate " to the genuineness of the signatures of the physicians and to their respectability is not essential to a legal commitment."[8] In Pennsylvania the friends of a lunatic may secure his admission to the hospital by filing with the court
